Synopsis:
During an invasion of a Japanese-held island during World War II, a Marine captain (Cornel Wilde) oversees his group of men — including death-hungry Gunnery Sergeant Honeywell (Rip Torn) and a pair of friendly young soldiers (Burr DeBenning and Patrick Wolfe) — while they and their Japanese counterparts reflect on their lives back home.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Cornel Wilde Films
• Rip Torn Films
• Soldiers
• World War Ii Films

Review:
Director/producer/writer/star Cornel Wilde followed up The Naked Prey (1966) with this differently unique adventure film, an adaptation of a 1945 novella by Peter Bowman set during World War II. The artistic opening credits –depicting paintings and a voice-over song by Wilde’s real-life wife, Jean Wallace — shift directly into action on a boat (here’s cigar-chomping Rip Torn):

… as scared Marines are preparing to land on and invade an unnamed Japanese-held Pacific island. Well over the first half-hour of the film shows us the non-stop living nightmare of invasion, comparable to that shown in Saving Private Ryan (1998) (note also that we see the first cinematic depiction of live filming during battle here):

… complete with limbs being shot off:

… and no easy decisions, ever.

Meanwhile, we are made privy to thoughts and memories of various characters throughout the film — not just Wilde but random men, both American and Japanese, with no subtitles provided for the latter (though we can easily see what’s on their hearts and minds, thus very effectively humanizing them in the midst of sheer bloody hell).

We’re shown a refreshingly unvarnished vision of the impact of war on men, including vomiting, the runs, fear, humor, paralysis, insecurity, anger, disgust, and shame. Comic “relief” of a sort comes primarily from DeBenning, who happily eats can after can of nasty rationed food:

… and reminisces about various drunken sexual escapades he enjoyed before the war.

We also see Jaime Sanchez’s Colombo thinking about various ways to win a medal and/or get sent home safely.

While critical opinions on this film seem mixed, I’m impressed by Wilde’s creative moxie; as he said in a 1970 interview with “Films and Filming”:

I think that a cut from one scene to another should have an impact, should carry you from a certain degree of involvement and excitement to something else without letting you down . . . I really think that a good deal of happenstance editing still goes on, and part of my style is that I like to feel there is a reason and impact to every frame of film. Nothing should be wasted.

This is exactly what we see playing out. While Beach Red isn’t a movie I would necessarily choose to revisit, it’s well worth one-time viewing.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• The artistic opening credits
  
• The terrifying early invasion sequence
  
• Creative direction, editing, and inclusion of memory-flashbacks
  
• Refreshing humanization of the Japanese
  

Must See?
Yes, as a uniquely told wartime flick.

Categories

• Good Show

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TCM Article
• NY Times Original Review
• DVD Savant Review